Man who ‘died for 45 minutes' says Jesus took him to heaven - now he's sharing what it looked like
A man has spoken out about the 'incredible' experience of heaven he had after being rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.
Mike McKinsey, a construction superintendent from Chattanooga, Tennessee, had just arrived at the venue of his son's wedding when he began feeling unwell.
Thinking he'd just 'come down with the flu,' he pushed through, but not long after the rehearsal dinner, he was left with a fever and unable to sleep.
Despite this, he persevered through the wedding, not wanting to impact his son's special day, before finally going to hospital.
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Suspected of having appendicitis, Mike underwent a test where medical professionals tapped his foot, prompting him to scream out in agony.
He was swiftly taken into surgery, but he said 'before they put a mask on or gave any medication' he 'looked to [his] right and Jesus walked through the surgical room doors'.
And during a podcast episode on Round Trip Death, he said it was during a period he was 'pronounced dead for a good 45 minutes' in which he saw even more.
What did Mike see when he says he met Jesus?
Speaking to UNILAD, Mike said Jesus 'walked in as a physical person', wearing a white robe, with 'darker skin than [he] had been shown as a kid'.
"[He] had a short dark brown beard with dark wavy hair. His eyes were a dark greenish blue. Even though he looked different, I knew immediately that it was Jesus. As he came closer to me, he held out his hand and said, 'I want to answer your prayer'. I was very confused and thought I must have died, but I took his hand," Mike said.
And the figure then led Mike to what he believes was heaven.
For anyone who wondered what heaven looks like, Mike describes his experience of it as being 'a grassy hill' surrounded by 'white, blinding light' - although, able to see his bare feet below him.
"I was standing on beautiful, lush green grass, a very dark green," Mike recalls. "The blades of grass were perfectly manicured. My senses were heightened to the point that I could feel every blade of grass touching my feet. I even knew the exact number of blades of grass!"
Suddenly, the blinding white light was 'pulled away' to reveal another 'beautiful scene'.
Mike describes standing on a hill adorned in pretty pastel flowers which 'seemed to be swaying in a slight wind, but there was no wind'.
He continues: "Below the flowers was a huge city, but the white curtain that was in front of me had now settled on top of the city, almost like fog. So all I could see were rooftops sticking through the fog.
"There was a giant golden dome almost in the center, there were other smaller domes around the city too as well as lots of tall steeples, all white, sticking through the fog. I thought they were church steeples, but they didn’t have any crosses on the tops, which I thought was odd.
"On the other side of the city was a very tall mountain that was covered in perfectly shaped green trees. They looked like pine trees but had lacy needles on them and even from the distance from where I was standing, I could make of every detail.
"Above the trees was a sky that had the most vivid, amazing colors I’d ever seen. Bright reds, oranges, purple, and blue.
"It was like a gorgeous sunset, but there was no sun. Then my eyes were drawn to a circle shape in the distance that looked like a giant pearl."
Mike details light tubes streaking across the sky, one even hitting him in the head but 'warming' him with a 'loving feeling,' the lights turning into fireworks set against the sunset.
'Overcome with emotion', Mike sunk to his knees, revealing as soon as his knees hit the floor, he was 'brought back' to reality in the ICU.
Researchers suggest between 10 and 20 percent of people will have a near-death experience, so what Mike is describing might not be as unusual as you might expect.
According to a 2023 study, common characteristics of a near-death experience include a feeling of inner peace, out-of-body experiences, passing through a tunnel and heightened senses.
Poppy Bilderbeck